


great friends

by asinineAbbreviations



Series: Great Friends [1]
Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware, Half-Life, Half-Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: First Meetings, Gen, Imaginary Friends, Not Beta Read, Not Romance, guess i'm writing a multi chapter fic now., i must repeat. not romance.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:33:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25534411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asinineAbbreviations/pseuds/asinineAbbreviations
Summary: gordon looks at worms and finds a friend in the woods.
Relationships: Benrey & Gordon Freeman
Series: Great Friends [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1880761
Comments: 2
Kudos: 59





	great friends

**Author's Note:**

> i must repeat: this is not frenrey. gordon is like 6, and benrey is an immortal being who admittedly does behave like a thirteen year old on xbox live. i just read an imaginary friends fic and blurted this out in like half an hour. not sure if i'll continue it or not.

gordon first saw benrey when he was 6.

he was out in the woods bordering his back garden, that his aunt told him to not wander too far into, when he heard a snap of twigs behind him. he twirled around, previously absorbed in gazing at worms, to see a looming figure staring at him from a distance. his heartbeat quickened - gordon had been told plently of times to be wary of strangers, so he tried to work in his head how to back away without having the person run at him.

the figure was tall and lanky, in what looked like a security uniform with a shiny helmet casting most of their face in a dark shadow. their skin was sallow, stretched tightly across inhumanly proportioned limbs, and there seemed to be a faint glow underneath the surface, flittering colours like a rainbow. when gordon looked at their face, there was no expression but to be found in sharp angles and catlike eyes.

for a moment, the world stood still, as gordon wondered what to do. the stranger wasn't moving at all, simply looking at him, and although he felt a weird vibe, like something otherworldly, there was seemingly no malicious intent. he was almost about to say something when they opened their mouth, revealing sharp fangs.

"hey uh. you looking at bugs or some shit?"

gordon. did Not expect a hello like that, and mutely nodded. "there's worms."

the person peered down at gordon's feet and nodded a few times. "yeah yeah, you - you got some? credentials? to be looking at them?"

"credentials?"

"yeah they're not uh, they're not comfortable being stared at without permission. if you don't have like a, a, an id or something i can't let you be here."

gordon was caught off guard by this bizarre conversation, and huffed out his chest. "i'm _obversing_ the worms. it's an ob-ver-sa-nal study."

"oh, a obversanal study. tryina see what the little - little baby lame worms are up to?"

the stranger started walking closer, completely silently. gordon somehow got the feeling that the twig snapping before had been to get his attention and tensed when he saw the movement, but didn't move. they reached him and squatted down to eye level, then looked down at the ground again. there were many more worms than before.

"aunt says that an ob-ver-sa-nal study is good for doctor science," gordon explained, leaning over again and poking at the worms with a stick. "so im obversing worms when i poke them."

the stranger nodded, a thoughtful expression on their face, and switched their attention back to gordon. he felt a bit uncomfortable with the slitted eyes gazing at them. "i see. a proper doctor doing doctor. i am going to - going to need your name though, make sure you're not going to steal anything."

"steal a worm?" gordon sniffed. "worms don't belong to people."

"that's the making of a thief right there sir. if you don't want me to bring you in to the, the police station, i'm a need your id."

gordon giggled slightly at their ridiculous words. "i'm gordon."

they blinked slowly, then a grin grew across their face. despite the sharp teeth, it gave off more of a teasing vibe. "gordos huh? i'm benry."

"benrey is a weird name."

"you're not pronouncing it right. its benry."

"benrey? you said benrey," gordon said.

"no. it's benry," benrey said. "c'mon - c'mon dude, it's really easy to say."

gordon stuck out his tongue at him, at which point benrey made an exaggerated gasp and flicked some mud from the ground at him. he squealed, and immediately retaliated, getting a good chunk of dirt in his fist before flinging it directly into their face. benrey didn't seem phased, simply licking the muck from around his mouth and grinning once more. 

thus began an impromptu mud-slinging fight.

benrey, being bigger with better range and mud capacity, easily managed to cover gordon nearly head to toe in it, whereas he only managed to mess up benrey's lower legs and face. after a few minutes, gordon was laying on the ground, practically in a mud bath, benrey sitting against a tree and laughing maniacally. unsuccessfully trying to wring the heavy clumps out of his hair, gordon let it splat down onto his forehead and gave benrey a pout. they gave a childish glare back and tossed a little ball of mud right into gordon's nose, who sat up and wiped it off (after sneezing a few times.)

"look at the mess you made of this place dude. i should've never let you in here," benrey said.

gordon wrinkled his eyes. "i was here first, AND you messed this place up too!"

they looked from side to side innocently. "whuh?"

"you threw mud at me too!"

"what? i don't know what you're talking about, you've, you've been messing up this whole facility."

"fa-what? stop lying!" gordon demanded. he stood up, and went over to where benrey was sitting and crossed his arms at him. it was what his aunt would do whenever she was super mad at him for tracking in dirt, or knocking over a plate, or cutting john's hair at random lengths. he scrunched up his whole face, and tried looking as mad as he could. it always managed to humble him whenever an adult used it.

benrey blinked lazily, unphased by the kid's 'secret weapon'. "you're the one upset and flinging mud in dude, i'm just tryin to stop you."

as they finished saying this, their cheeks puffed slightly, as though they were about to be sick, but when their mouth opened dark blue orbs floated out towards gordon. he was dumbstruck for a moment, rage forgotten, and when they splashed on his face he could feel himself getting calmer. he blinked a few times and sniffed. he was about to say something when he heard a voice echo through the trees, calling his name. his and benrey's heads snapped towards the origin of the sound, gordon gasping when he realised it was his aunt calling. looking up at the sky, he could see it was later than when he was supposed to come inside, and with a sense of dread, he realised he was absolutely drenched in mud.

he quickly turned back to benrey who was side-eyeing him a bit warily, and said "my aunt wants me back inside. it was nice meeting you!"

they looked at him strangely, but then grinned again. "nice meeting you, too dude. bring your - id next time."

gordon nodded, smiling, then turned and ran towards his back garden, unaware of the eyes that followed him the whole way back. benrey stayed still for a few moments, smiled more sincerely, spat out a few orbs that wobbled from a light green to a shiny silver, and stood up. their form stretched, fading in and out for a few moments as their molecules began vibrating at high speed, then dispersed, disappearing from the forest.

gordon didn't notice any of that, too busy trying to wipe as much mud off as he could before his aunt saw him. unfortunately, she managed to nab him as he stumbled out of the tree line and began berating him.

"gordon! how do you manage to get _this_ much mud on you?"

"i had a mud fight with benrey! he blew bubbles at me!" gordon yelped, trying to get away from the wet wipe she was rubbing in his face. she paused for a moment, then smiled gently.

"whos benrey?" she asked, trying to get rid of the worst of the mud. gordon squirmed."

"a friend i met in the forest. they watched worms at me and threw mud."

she tsked, and said, "a friend shouldn't throw mud, dear." seemingly satisfied with the amount she'd gotten off, she stood back up and held gordon's hand as she led them both back inside the house. "is benrey a nice friend?"

gordon thought about them for a moment. their pale skin, inhuman gait, terrifying eyes. their grin, the mud fight, their weird bubbles.

"yeah. he's a nice friend."

**Author's Note:**

> lime green to silver as a dime means playing with you is a really nice time.


End file.
